White supremacist in race for school board

August 6, 2010 12:00:00 AM PDT

Leann Suter

RIALTO, Calif. --

An avowed white supremacist is stirring up outrage in Rialto since he filed to run for the school board in this heavily minority area.Dan Schruender, who is a past president of the California chapter of the Aryan Nations, filed papers for his candidacy with the city on Monday.

As residents of Rialto have discovered his white supremacist background many have called for him to be banned from the race.

"I don't think anyone that is doing something like that should run for an office like that because it's not going to teach our kids anything better than hate," said angered resident Bobby Walker.

Officials with the district said Schruender had not violated any official rules of candidacy and they could not pull him out of the race for the two available school board seats.

"The decision of who is elected in the Rialto Unified School District - that agenda lies in the hands of the voters in the community," said Syeda Jafri, Communications Director for the Rialto School District.

Many offended voters in Rialto have made it clear that Schrueder stands no chance in this community, which is almost 75 percent Hispanic and more than 15 percent black.

Schrueder's campaign has been affected by the controversy. On his Web site he posted an announcement that he would no longer be handing out campaign literature because the media frenzy would be bad for his campaign.

He may announce on Monday whether or not he intends to stay in the race given the controversy.